"The House of God" by Samuel Shem

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  1. Medical Student
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The thread about the "Best Medical School" reminded me of a fictional novel about life as an intern that I read called "The House of God."

Has anybody else read this? If you have, what are your thoughts about the suggested delivery of medical care (i.e. that doing nothing is doing something or that your goal is to transfer patients to another service as soon as possible)?
 
reading it now

good stuff so far
 
Marvelous book (and better than the follow-up Mount Misery); I think it does an excellent job of capturing the frustration, angst, giddiness, etc., etc. that make up the complex emotional landscape of practicing medicine. As to turfing, I'm of two minds - I think the litigious nature of contemporary America has altered the landscape a bit (e.g., EMTALA, CMS and Medicare dependency, HIPAA, etc., etc.).
 
one of the ER docs i shadowed told me that during her residency, they had a philosophy of "Move the Meat", where they basically tried to get rid of the patients as fast as possible
 
Quix said:
Marvelous book (and better than the follow-up Mount Misery); I think it does an excellent job of capturing the frustration, angst, giddiness, etc., etc. that make up the complex emotional landscape of practicing medicine. As to turfing, I'm of two minds - I think the litigious nature of contemporary America has altered the landscape a bit (e.g., EMTALA, CMS and Medicare dependency, HIPAA, etc., etc.).
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Nice post! I did not know about Mount Misery - I'll have to take a look at that. Agree with your comment about turfing.
 
geno2568 said:
one of the ER docs i shadowed told me that during her residency, they had a philosophy of "Move the Meat", where they basically tried to get rid of the patients as fast as possible
Click to expand...

Nice!
 
I'm reading it right now. It's pretty interesting. No idea how that era of medical care relates to current care as that was quite a few years ago. Hopefully will find out soon enough!
 
danjo said:
The thread about the "Best Medical School" reminded me of a fictional novel about life as an intern that I read called "The House of God."

Has anybody else read this? If you have, what are your thoughts about the suggested delivery of medical care (i.e. that doing nothing is doing something or that your goal is to transfer patients to another service as soon as possible)?
Click to expand...


reading it now!
awesome book...In the first chapter when he described the nurse with the busting tetas...OMFG (excuse the language)...I thought..."niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice"
 
riceman04 said:
reading it now!
awesome book...In the first chapter when he described the nurse with the busting tetas...OMFG (excuse the language)...I thought..."niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice"
Click to expand...

It gets even better!
 
Another thing I found to be quite interesting was the use of the GOMERs to refine the interns' medical skills - definitely a highly questionable topic, but I can see the utility of it.
 
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I remember reading somewhere that the writers of the show "Scrubs" were heavily influenced by the book's vernacular and tone. You can definitely see how much the show owes to the book, and its impact on popular culture in general.
 
ADeadLois said:
I remember reading somewhere that the writers of the show "Scrubs" were heavily influenced by the book's vernacular and tone. You can definitely see how much the show owes to the book, and its impact on popular culture in general.
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I never really thought about that before, but now that you mention it, I can definitely see the connection!
 
surebreC said:
I think he was a whiny bitch. I hated HOG.
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Yeah, he was definitely a little too whiny. Did you not find the book amusing or interesting at all?
 
I thought it was an interesting book. A cross between Scrubs and a porno movie, how can that ever be a bad thing? I would suggest reading a book called "Hot Lights, Cold Steel" written by an orthopedic surgeon about his residency.
 
MarzMD said:
I thought it was an interesting book. A cross between Scrubs and a porno movie, how can that ever be a bad thing? I would suggest reading a book called "Hot Lights, Cold Steel" written by an orthopedic surgeon about his residency.
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Thanks for the suggestion!
 
From how you guys describe it, this book sounds interesting. Gotta check it out in Barnes and Nobles.
 
Read it, it is entertaining and it gives you an idea about how much medicine isn't really what it is made out to be.
However, that book is a bit unrealistic. Satire I guess.
 
Turfing is alive and well, but instead of sending patients to the street you find ways to send them to other services. Like ... surgery turfs their post-op patient to medicine because the patient has diabetes that might need managed. *wink, wink* Or medicine turfs a patient to psych and will consult on any medical problem.

Around here gomers are called "rocks" because you can't move them. They're never going to leave the hospital and you have to write progress notes on them every blasted day.
 
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danjo said:
Yeah, he was definitely a little too whiny. Did you not find the book amusing or interesting at all?
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I did not enjoy it at all. I thought it was all doom and gloom. He was negative to the point of absurdity - it reminded me of the depressed robot in Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe.
 
danjo said:
Thanks for the suggestion!
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The book I suggested isnt sattirical, but it chronicles the life of an ortho resident who had a wife, kids, and also moonlighted in an ER a ridiculous amount of hours during the week......all this back in the day before hour restrictions I believe. It just shows how much hard work can get you in this field, so I thought it was a really good read. Not to mention the stories about some of the decisions he had to make as a surgeon(like whether or not to amputate a little kids limb... and the fallible nature of doctors)
 
A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure
 
RokChalkJayhawk said:
A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure
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Gomers go to ground.

I just read it this summer and found it good but a little depressing. I'm happy I dont plan on going into internal medicine...

Other good medical books:
When Air Hits the Brain: Tales of Neurosurgery
Not an Entirely Benign Procedure
The Intern Blues (reading right now, all true, realllly informative!)
 
tch001 said:
Gomers go to ground.

I just read it this summer and found it good but a little depressing. I'm happy I dont plan on going into internal medicine...

Other good medical books:
When Air Hits the Brain: Tales of Neurosurgery
Not an Entirely Benign Procedure
The Intern Blues (reading right now, all true, realllly informative!)
Click to expand...


:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Wawa...I became a fan during the past year...I made many late late night almost morning time trips there.

Being that I am from the west coast I originally was very skeptical b/c from the outside it looks like a 7-nasty-11.

They have everything...kind of expensive though
 
riceman04 said:
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Wawa...I became a fan during the past year...I made many late late night almost morning time trips there.

Being that I am from the west coast I originally was very skeptical b/c from the outside it looks like a 7-nasty-11.

They have everything...kind of expensive though
Click to expand...

I 😍 Wawa. I'm from South Jersey though, so its kinda a requirement. We have Wawas on (literally) every street corner.
 
This is all great stuff, I am going to subscribe to this thread so I can keep track of all these medically related books! Thanks folks.
 
MarzMD said:
I thought it was an interesting book. A cross between Scrubs and a porno movie, how can that ever be a bad thing? I would suggest reading a book called "Hot Lights, Cold Steel" written by an orthopedic surgeon about his residency.
Click to expand...

Nice analogy.

Good book from what I've heard. Not sure if I'll pick it up because I've read many books with similar stories (Complications, On Call, Intern Blues...), so I don't know if there's much more to gain.

I definitely will give House of God a glance when I get the chance though.
-Dr. P.
 
"Hot Lights Cold Steel" was a good book, but I have to wonder what was up with the dude and wanting to have a billion babies? Even when his wife almost DIED, they were upset that she couldn't continue to populate the earth.
 
House of God was the first, and House of God was the best. Obviously not all of it is true, but I'd imagine some very similar things happened.
 
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tch001 said:
Gomers go to ground.

I just read it this summer and found it good but a little depressing. I'm happy I dont plan on going into internal medicine...

Other good medical books:
When Air Hits the Brain: Tales of Neurosurgery
Not an Entirely Benign Procedure
The Intern Blues (reading right now, all true, realllly informative!)
Click to expand...
I love that book! I've been re-reading it on my lunch break lately... I think my entire family will have to read it at some point before I start internship. Just to freak them out.
 
RokChalkJayhawk said:
Obviously not all of it is true, but I'd imagine some very similar things happened.
Click to expand...

It was actually pretty true at the time it was written, but a lot of things were cleaned up due to medical community backlash from the book. Certainly the pejorative references to patients used to be much more frequent, but now in the days of political correctness and patient rights, you cannot refer to or treat patients the way some did in that book.
 
Dr. Pepper said:
Nice analogy.

Good book from what I've heard. Not sure if I'll pick it up because I've read many books with similar stories (Complications, On Call, Intern Blues...), so I don't know if there's much more to gain.

I definitely will give House of God a glance when I get the chance though.
-Dr. P.
Click to expand...

From what I've heard, this is one of those classics that most people will have read at some point. The terminology is actually in use at hospitals!
 
danjo said:
The thread about the "Best Medical School" reminded me of a fictional novel about life as an intern that I read called "The House of God."

Has anybody else read this? If you have, what are your thoughts about the suggested delivery of medical care (i.e. that doing nothing is doing something or that your goal is to transfer patients to another service as soon as possible)?
Click to expand...

Good read. Some exaggerations (i.e.: sex orgies in the hospital)
 
MD-To Be said:
Good read. Some exaggerations (i.e.: sex orgies in the hospital)
Click to expand...

You mean those don't really happen? 🙁 How about the nurses' classic straight bendover?
 
surebreC said:
I did not enjoy it at all. I thought it was all doom and gloom. He was negative to the point of absurdity - it reminded me of the depressed robot in Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe.
Click to expand...

I agree that I found the book to be quite whiney, though I did find parts to be entertaining as well. It's just that I found that the author's pompous and self-righteous attitude was annoying. I read it for one of my classes, and the professor (who works at the real House of God) remembers meeting the author at some gathering where a lot of doctors asked him about the book. Apparantly, the author was quite full of himself at this event, and most of the participants left feeling that he was extremely arrogant.
 
Gabujabu said:
I agree that I found the book to be quite whiney, though I did find parts to be entertaining as well. It's just that I found that the author's pompous and self-righteous attitude was annoying. I read it for one of my classes, and the professor (who works at the real House of God) remembers meeting the author at some gathering where a lot of doctors asked him about the book. Apparantly, the author was quite full of himself at this event, and most of the participants left feeling that he was extremely arrogant.
Click to expand...

Hmmm...perhaps he was the self-proclaimed MVI?
 
MarzMD said:
I thought it was an interesting book. A cross between Scrubs and a porno movie, how can that ever be a bad thing? I would suggest reading a book called "Hot Lights, Cold Steel" written by an orthopedic surgeon about his residency.
Click to expand...
This is a fantastic book, I definately second the recommendation.
 
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geno2568 said:
one of the ER docs i shadowed told me that during her residency, they had a philosophy of "Move the Meat", where they basically tried to get rid of the patients as fast as possible
Click to expand...
This doesn't end when residency is over. This is the entire philosophy of being an ER doctor. Punt!
 
danjo said:
The thread about the "Best Medical School" reminded me of a fictional novel about life as an intern that I read called "The House of God."

Has anybody else read this? If you have, what are your thoughts about the suggested delivery of medical care (i.e. that doing nothing is doing something or that your goal is to transfer patients to another service as soon as possible)?
Click to expand...

Not only is it my favorite book of all time, but it is essential to read prior to clinicals. The terminology used in the book is common lingo used in the actual hospital.

For example, today I was told by my attending regarding a patient that I discharged last week:

"We turfed her to the nursing home on Friday, but last night she bounced back."
 
OSUdoc08 said:
Not only is it my favorite book of all time, but it is essential to read prior to clinicals. The terminology used in the book is common lingo used in the actual hospital.

For example, today I was told by my attending regarding a patient that I discharged last week:

"We turfed her to the nursing home on Friday, but last night she bounced back."
Click to expand...

At my university's hospital they seem to have replaced "turf" with "punt." A female resident I'm friends with even likes to act out a drop kick across the full length of a hall after getting rid of a particularly bad patient.

But back to the topic at hand though, I have to agree that "House of God" is an eye-opening and entertaining classic. I'd like to add "White coat: becoming a doctor at Harvard Medical School " by Ellen Rothman to the list of reading recommendations. Well-written, recent, and goes over the four years a little more immediate to us pre-allos. Just getting started on "Year of the Intern" by Robin Cook; I'll get back to you all on that one.
 
I'm diggin' all of the recommended reading! Keep 'em coming!
 
Its a great book, but I thought the sequel "Mount Misery" was total junk. I feel like "House of God" should not be taken too seriously. While entertaining, its very 1970s free-love orgy....I don't exactly see that stuff actually happening. The book is also pretty cruel, although that represents a huge part of the entertainment.

Totally worth a read, plus its short and goes fast.
 
tch001 said:
Gomers go to ground.

I just read it this summer and found it good but a little depressing. I'm happy I dont plan on going into internal medicine...

Other good medical books:
When Air Hits the Brain: Tales of Neurosurgery
Not an Entirely Benign Procedure
The Intern Blues (reading right now, all true, realllly informative!)
Click to expand...


ooh i actually loved the Intern Blues - it gives you a glance into the real feelings of actual interns
I read House of God and Mount Misery too, but I kind of liked Mount Misery more maybe b/c I'm into psych - definitely my calling
 
.surgical. said:
Its a great book, but I thought the sequel "Mount Misery" was total junk. I feel like "House of God" should not be taken too seriously. While entertaining, its very 1970s free-love orgy....I don't exactly see that stuff actually happening. The book is also pretty cruel, although that represents a huge part of the entertainment.

Totally worth a read, plus its short and goes fast.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to hear that. I think Mount Misery was great, and very enlightening. It was a great prequel to my psych rotation.
 
RokChalkJayhawk said:
"Hot Lights Cold Steel" was a good book, but I have to wonder what was up with the dude and wanting to have a billion babies? Even when his wife almost DIED, they were upset that she couldn't continue to populate the earth.
Click to expand...
hahah i thought the same thing when i read this book. it's crazy...hot lights cold steel was a good book. i laughed a lot throughout the book.

anywho, where are y'all buying house of god? i've been looking online and in bookstores but can't find it anywhere, at least for a good price. maybe if one of y'all wanted to sell a used one...
 
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